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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2019)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 14, 2019 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR | 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respect- ing an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800) USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News Siuslaw News Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National Newspaper Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore. Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax 541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com. Jenna Bartlett Ned Hickson Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Multimedia Sales Director, ext. 326 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Dis- play classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to pub- lication; Regular classified ads, Thursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m. NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $79; 6-month in-county, $56; 10-week subscription, $25; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $102; 6-month out- of-county, $69; 10-week subscription, $35; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $134; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $65. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Letters to the Editor policy Something most of us can agree on because it’s second making great strides, nature. I’m so used to it leading the state in this being there that I don’t campaign by being the even think about how of- only county in Oregon ten — and in how many to send more waste to ways — I use electricity. recyclers than we did to The same can be said landfills. While our dependence The inclusion of plastic for our use of plastic. Here are a few statis- on plastic is a global in our lives has grown exponentially over the past 70 years, making our lives easier, more From the Editor's Desk convenient and often Ned Hickson providing a significant cost savings almost too tics to help illustrate the issue, the solutions will good to be true. However, over the past scope of how plastic has need to be implement- few years we have begun become a second-nature ed one community at a element of our lives: time, with the first step to realize that the eco- Worldwide, more than in that process being logical interest rate on 500 billion plastic bags education. the cost of convenience are used each year, or Before we can solve has come due — with more than 1 million bags the plastic problem, we an unexpected balloon every minute. need to fully understand payment. The average “working its scope and the ways We produce nearly 300 life” of a plastic bag is 15 it is intertwined — not million tons of plastic only among those of us products each year in the minutes, after which it who use it, but how any U.S., nearly half of which “retires.” In 1996, 3.8 billion changes we make could is designed for single-use plastic water bottles were impact us economically. purposes in what has sold in the U.S. By 2014, Beginning Jan. 1, increasingly become a that number had grown Oregon HB 2509, also disposable society. And known as the “Sustain- despite efforts to educate to 57.3 billion. It’s no small irony that able Shopping Initiative” the public about the im- portance of “Reduce, Re- the process of producing passed by the Oregon a water bottle actually re- Legislature earlier this use and Recycle,” each year more than 8 million quires six times as much year, will go into effect, prohibiting retail stores tons of plastic is dumped water as there is in the and restaurants from pro- actual container itself. into our oceans. viding single-use checkout In Lane County, our When we lose elec- bags to customers, and goal is to recyle two- tricity in our home, I still walk into every dark thirds of our waste prod- placing restrictions on other checkout bags they room and flip the switch ucts by 2025. We were may provide. Like any change in routine, this will feel like an inconvenience until, eventually, bringing our own shopping bags be- comes second nature. In some cases, it will likely mean an additional cost for things like to-go containers or — should we forget our shopping bags — the need to purchase a multi-use alternative at the store. While deep divisons continue over our im- pact as a society on the changing climate, most of us can agree on the need to find solutions to dealing with what we once embraced as an element of everyday life that seemed too good to be true — and was. The question is what we can do — and are willing to do — as indi- viduals, a community and society to address the true cost of conve- nience. (Editor’s Note: For complete information on HB 2509, visit https:// olis.leg.state.or.us/liz /2019R1/Measures/Over- view/HB2509) The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi- tor as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are sub- ject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of let- ters received. Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen- tative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or documented will not be published. Letters containing poetry or from outside the Siuslaw News readership area will only be pub- lished at the discretion of the editor. Political/Election Letters: Election-related letters must address pertinent or timely issues of interest to our readers at-large. Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) En- sure any information about a candidate is accu- rate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay; and 3) Explain the reasons to support candidates based on personal experience and perspective rather than partisanship and cam- paign-style rhetoric. Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the editor column to outline their views and platforms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political advertising. As with all letters and advertising content, the newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publish- er, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria. Email letters to: nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com WHERE TO WRITE Pres. Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213 www.whitehouse.gov Oregon Gov. Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court St. Salem, Ore. 97301-4047 Governor’s Citizens’ Rep. Message Line: 503-378-4582 www.oregon.gov/gov U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 541-431-0229 www.wyden.senate.gov U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley 313 Hart Senate Office Bldg Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 FAX: 202-228-3997 541-465-6750 www.merkley.senate.gov U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.) 2134 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6416 541-269-2609 541-465-6732 www.defazio.house.gov State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5) 900 Court St. NE - S-417 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1705 FAX: 503-986-1080 Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@ oregonlegislature.gov State Rep. Caddy McKeown (Dist. 9) 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1409 Email: rep.caddymckeown @oregonlegislature.gov West Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich 125 E. Eighth St. Eugene, OR 97401 541-682-4203 FAX: 541-682-4616 Email: Jay.Bozievich@ co.lane.or.us
